Teach Yourself Dbt

[Sandstone]

While I'm in NHS limbo between therapists, I think one of the most important things I can do is work on self regulation skills, and I think DBT will be the way to go for this. I'm not so interested in the inter-personal aspects, but mainly in ways to recognise when I move into hyper-arousal and then to manage that reaction.

My main reason for wanting to develop those skills is to be able to cope with exposure therapy, when it comes, without reacting in an unpredictable and destructive way as I have in the past.

I'm on my own with this, apart from the collective wisdom of this site. Can anyone recommend good books or other resources? I have a couple that include some DBT as part of a range of ideas, but nothing specialised. I wonder if I need a theory book, or if I can go straight to a work book of some sort?

I also wonder how much impact dissociative tendencies have on learning this, specially without a T's input. Any thoughts or experience?

 

[ms spock]

You can watch a stack of videos of Marsha Linehan on youtube for free. She also has videos on her website that you can watch for free.

You can download the PDF of her Skills workshop from the Internet.

I am working through this website DBT Self Help
I print out the diary cards and fill them out. I work on a new skill every day - so reading, thinking, writing and then doing the skill. Just work your way through them and try to apply them as much as you can.

My favourite visual/audio meditation is Radical Acceptance Instant Mindfulness

There are a lot of people with a lot of experience on Dialectical Behaviour Therapy on this forum - you could use the search function and search through for the names of each skill.

I have been teaching myself Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for awhile now.

I have severe and prolonged dissociation, derealisation, depersonalisation, etc etc so I just do small amounts regularly - when I first started reading David Burns book "Feeling Good" I wondered how I would ever be present enough to actually process the information or work out which of my thoughts were distorted and in what way. Practice is your friend. Do a little bit each and every day and over time it all builds up.

Good luck.

P.S Sorry for using Acronyms

 

[Sandstone]

If you had to start with just one of those resources, which would you opt for? I'm entirely capable of spending weeks researching and making lists of pros and cons when it might be more useful to jump in and start, then look for something to plug any gaps. (please don't recommend the mindfulness one - I really can't get to grips with that)

 

[Joan]

If you are more of a visual/auditory learner you might want to go the Marsha Lineham You Tube route....be warned that in my opinion they are dry and slow, but good source of information.
If you are more of a worksheet/exercise and reading type of learner...I think a good source is The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook

Good for you for working on this on your own. Like has been said before there are lots of people on here who know a lot on this and can be good resources or help. Best wishes!

 

[rosey]

@Joan is right with the skills work book. I have just done 12 12weeks of dbt which covered only a small chunk of dbt i supplemented myself using the worksheets.

I found the mindfulness really useful.

It is hard work and i found i had to do things over and over. However all the people i know that have done dbt have found it worthwhile and appears to be one of those things that suddenly all clicks together. So be warned of some frustrating days thinking you are doing it all but its not working, wait for the click

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Can anyone recommend good books

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The book my therapist has in his office and had me buy. Its a workbook that has you writing in it as you go through it and you can skip through as you need.

I found some specific DBT books too on there when searching for others.

It seems to be much better than sites because you are activetly writing in a workbook and can skip around in it and go back to the pages you wrote previously. Ive been going back through the first few pages recently so it seem to help that way in future dates too. Can take it off the shelf and refresh on things.

 

[joeylittle]

As @Joan and @rosey and @lostforgottensoul have said - the Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook (McKay, Wood, Brantley) is really very good. It's organized by 'branch' - so, you can easily just focus on Emotional Regulation and Distress Tolerance, and ignore Interpersonal and Mindfulness (although I would suggest that there's even stuff in there that's useful. I didn't really need to work on interpersonal stuff, but going through it I learned some things about my communication style that were helpful).

Marsha's videos are definitely slow and dry - kind of funny sometimes - but I think there's some value in watching a few of them. DBT is all about how you process and think and shift your thoughts. In the early videos she gives some good examples. And (I believe) the slower pace encourages the listener to just slow down a tiny bit and take it all in. We mostly used the workbook in the programs I've done, but there was always a little bit of time spent with Marsha via her videos, and I appreciated it. (I also appreciate her story in general, and since she 'invented' DBT, it's a nice touchstone).

I believe the trick with working DBT on your own is to make sure you go slowly enough to truly think about it. The concepts can seem simple on the surface, and it's easy to end up skimming them. But really taking the time to come up with your own examples, to connect the examples they give to people you might know in your life, to actually try and use all 20 or so of the distress tolerance skills in order to find out what works for you - there's a lot there, in a good way.

The aspect of mindfulness that matters at first is really just paying attention and noticing your own thoughts and reactions. Like this:

So be warned of some frustrating days thinking you are doing it all but its not working, wait for the click

So true.

 

[Sandstone]

Thank you for all your replies. That seems to be the most popular workbook, though I have noted a couple of comments in earlier threads that it can be a bit simplistic in its explanations. I think a book would give me the structure I like, and interacting with it should help to keep me present and focussed.

My learning style is quite visual, but tends more to creating my own visuals - mind maps, tables, flow charts than watching videos, except when I'm learning a practical technique like sewing.

While browsing old threads I've also seen recommendations for " Don't Let Your Emotions Run Your Life: How Dialectical Behavior Therapy Can Put You in Control" and Marsha Linehans own "DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets" and in particular " The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anxiety: Breaking Free from Worry, Panic, PTSD, and Other Anxiety Symptoms". Does anyone have any comments on any of them? How applied are they?


The message I'm picking up from all of you is - persist, consider, apply, repeat. I think those are approaches within my grasp, so that is quite encouraging.

 

[rosey]

Marsha linhams worksheet book is good but not overly useful without the manual too or a good basis of dbt already.

 

[joeylittle]

That seems to be the most popular workbook, though I have noted a couple of comments in earlier threads that it can be a bit simplistic in its explanations.

Most definitely. The advantage to that is - when one really needs the skills (during any kind of agitation/escalation/upset state), simple is good. I've found that reading through it can be frustrating, but I'm always grateful for how basic it is when I go to apply it. I can easily remember passages, and they aren't too dense with theory. I think, like any cognitive work, it can be as deep and complex as you want it to be, or as plain and simple as you want it to be.

I can't remember if that DBT book is published now with the facilitator's guide in the back - if it's not, you might want to also get that. It's essentially the lecture notes for how to lead a group through the chapters, and does go a little deeper into some of the concepts.

The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anxiety: Breaking Free from Worry, Panic, PTSD, and Other Anxiety Symptoms". Does anyone have any comments on any of them? How applied are they?

Browsed through it quickly - it's essentially by the same people, and draws on the 'main' DBT book, with a more in-depth focus on anxiety issues. If anxiety and flashbacks are big for you, you may prefer this. On amazon (US, anyway) you can use the 'look inside' tool to compare the table of contents - you'll see the difference between the two right away. I personally trust this entire series more than anything else.

I agree with @rosey re: Linehan's worksheets - they are only good if you are using them alongside her training manual, and it's really geared towards clinicians, not clients.

(I'll shut up now and let other people talk :speechless:)

 

[Freedomfighter]

While I'm in NHS limbo between therapists, I think one of the most important things I can do is work...

Not familiar with DBT, please explain.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

@Freedomfighter:

An Overview of Dialectical Behavior Therapy | Psych Central

What is DBT? | Behavioral Tech

Dialectical behavior therapy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The workbook:

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